So Many Things to Do! Discerning the Will of God
How do you go about discerning the will of God? Sometimes it’s easy, but others it’s not so much. Have you ever had multiple opportunities in life that seem equally from God yet they conflict with each other and you just don’t know which one to do?!
Too Many Great Options
After 5 years of being a stay at home mom I re-entered the work force. It was a door opened so obviously by God. My best friend from college just happened to call (yeah right, “just happened” = orchestrated by God) to see if I knew a person that applied for a job. I had just started my search for a part time job. Everything else fell into place seamlessly. Think about a situation in your life that so obviously had the hand of God in it. You know, where everything just worked out?!
After 5 years of working 5 days a week, I’m ready to be back home (at least a little more). My husband makes good money but with four children, no financial help from family, and decent living standards, I need to bring in an income.
I ended up stumbling across (again, yeah right) Rosemarie Groner’s course Making Money at Home. She has a fantastic story of being chaotically overwhelmed and busy working as a State Trooper. After having her first child she desperately (and successfully) looked for a way to make money from home. You should definitely dive into her site. 😉
Through Rosemarie’s course I found many different options for side hustles that I could do from home. Enter Truly Devoted to Him! It’s not only an opportunity to maybe bring in a little extra income but it’s morphed into so much more – I get to use the lessons we’ve learned from almost 20 years together to help others and learn from other wives like you! It’s a chance to share all the gold nuggets He’s taught me through my growth as a believer and follower of Jesus! I get to tell you that if we can make it this far, so can you!! God gives me the opportunity to share how He marvelously saved my marriage and changed me!!! What an opportunity!
The Struggle of Second Guessing
I’ll be completely honest though, I’ve struggled with discerning the will of God for my life multiple times. I desperately want to have the option of working from home more but I don’t know if this translates into a discontent that is sin. How do you tell the difference between an energy from following God’s will for your life and a self-serving energy from the enemy (that temptation of “it feels good”). How do you decipher a healthy fear of the Lord and the enemy filling you with fear?
I know God has called me for the glory of His name but how do I know if this is it? I desperately want to be with God. To radically follow Him and enjoy His loving relationship. I long to be close to Him. My heart aches for it!!!
I know that a part of that relationship is the reverent fear and awe. I actually fear being separated from Him. But is this biblical? What about the last part of Romans 8:
“Neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
But what about where Romans 1 in scripture says
“Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.”
Wow! Those verses describe some pretty awful qualities that I don’t feel describe my heart or being but I don’t want to become prideful where I feel independent. I want money but I don’t want it LOL! Here’s the thing. Money is amoral. It’s the love of money that is the root of all evil. So it’s all about the heart. I don’t want the want for money to lead me astray from what God has for me!!! I do NOT want to exchange the truth of God for ANYTHING.
The Holy Spirit inside of me and I try to heed that. Once a believer, God sends the Holy Spirit to dwell in your soul. A sort of conscience. Romans 8:26 says that “the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness” as we live in the waiting – that is, the Spirit can convict us or lead us in life as we wait for Christ to return. Some days I feel very convicted that I’m forcing my own will. Then some days I have the feeling of affirmation that this is for God’s glory. Since there’s the Holy Spirit that can give feelings but there’s also our selfish nature that causes feelings, which one is right? Am I the only one that has this tug of war??
Steps to Discerning the Will of God
Prayer
1 – Obviously, we know we need to pray about it.
Romans 8:26 also says we do not know what to pray for as we ought to. I’ve been praying. I’ll keep praying until I feel clarity. I’ve prayed for guidance, discernment, that God would stop anything that is not His will. Is that ok to pray? I think so. “Thy will be done.” And Jesus even prefaces that with “Not mine, but your will be done” in his last prayer before being arrested. Pray that God close doors that are not His will and give you discernment that way you can clearly see which option is His will.
Scripture
2 – We need to refer to scripture.
If life has a manual, the Bible is it. Sure it was written thousands of years ago. But the principles hold true to life today and you’ll be amazed at how scripture changes your perspective. Sometimes I’ll be going along, minding my own business, living the day and a situation will come up (not even a big or dramatic one) and BAM! A scripture will pop into my head and give me instruction and encouragement for whatever it is that I’m doing. I absolutely love it when God does that!!
God can do anything. He chose to give us free will, which means we can choose to learn the Bible or not. I can tell you that reading, studying, and learning the word of God has made the biggest difference in my relationship with Him. It makes a huge difference in discerning the will of God too.
Jesus says in Mark 3:35 that whoever does the will of God, “he is my brother and sister and mother.”
Romans 8:28 says “We know that for the good of those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”
You love Him? He called you to serve Him? You believed and followed? So He’s got this, right? 🙂
Counsel
3 – We should seek godly counsel.
This was actually the step to discerning the will of God that brought me peace. I opened up about my insecurities and doubts to a mentor at church. I can’t encourage you enough to do this! Your church is family. Foster and grow those relationships. Confide in a mentor. Be a mentor for someone else.
This bold, godly woman was the outside view that I needed. She directed me to scripture (tying into #2) and prayed for me (#1). She looked at the Proverbs 31 woman with me; a hard working, profitable, business woman. We talked and she poured godly wisdom into me about being home more to disciple my children and serve my family and household like scripture teaches.
“Where there is no guidance, a people falls, but in an abundance of counselors there is safety.” Proverbs 11:14
Winning the Battle; Spiritual Understanding
This blog started as a way to make some extra money to help provide for my family. Affiliate links and ad space and the whole nine yards. But the ultimate purpose of this blog is to give God glory because He saved me from myself. He saved my marriage against all odds. And I truly believe He can do the same for you.
The more I write, the easier it gets and the more freely the words flow. There’s an energy that fills me. Yes, it’s hard. Yes, it can be scary. But I’m practicing discerning the will of God and what one of my pastors taught me – Go until God says no. I refuse to let the enemy scare me out of doing something that will bring glory to my Creator.
Transparency is something Jesus followers need to work on. So I’m being completely transparent with you. From lying to start a family as a teen to the ways I almost ruined my marriage to the struggles I’m currently having in life. Thank you for living life with me.
XOXO
To get to know me better, read about me & my saved love
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